In reality the Bolshevik insurgents faced little or no opposition.[1] The insurrection was timed and organized to hand state power to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which began on 25 October. After a single day of revolution eighteen people had been arrested and two had been killed. The Bolsheviks captured telegraph and telephone offices, railway stations, newspaper offices and government institutions. The insurrection was carried out by Red Guards (armed workers), sailors from the Baltic fleet, and revolutionary sections of the army.

The October Revolution inspired a revolutionary wave across the world, including the Hungarian revolution, the German revolution of 1918-1919, and the Chinese revolution of 1925-27.